Friday · Dec. 18, 1942
Everything is canned.
He’d give a lot for a good chunk of beef.
Dec 18, 1942 · 11:30 A.
My Darling Wife
I don’t know what I am going to write about—I just finished a letter a few hours ago.
However it is raining this morning and I just feel like sitting down and writing a letter to you.
My tent is pretty well ditched so that water runs off. With a little luck I can keep my stuff dry.
For some reason or other fresh meat isn’t coming in. As a result we have lots of “Pork Luncheon Loaf”, canned beef, vienna sausage and [the?] damn [meaty?] canned meat & vegetable stew. Our potatoes and cabbage come in dehydrated form and aren’t so bad to eat. We get …
… canned fruits & vegetables—in fact everything is canned. This monotonous diet—same thing everyday—is getting us down, and we are really looking forward to a good chunk of beef.
The supply sgt of this company went in to town to see my supply sgt. and he is going to try to get my mail. Perhaps I’ll get it today instead of tomorrow
Interruption
7:30 P.M.
They forgot to get my mail today so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow. We went out on a problem today, and got home just before it started to pour. We are now at the wine shop—writing letters before starting our …
… pinochle game. Tomorrow we go back to our companies.
Todays news from the front is good. The 8th Army is reported to have taken El Agheila and hit the Germans from the rear. That sounds good and in a short time they should be getting near to Tripoli. From this end things apparently are going slow for the news is scarce and mostly of holding attacks. New Guinea is now supposed to be [ours?] except for 250 Japs. Russia is doing allright. All in all everything looks promising for the Allied Nations. Todays report says that Nelson asserts our Allied production is double that …
… of the Axis and production reports from home look very promising. Our news comes to us each day in a mimeographed publication. From comparing it to news broadcasts from America, it would appear that we get the same war news that you get on the front page of the newspapers at home. We all wait eagerly each day for the newspaper so that we can find out how the war goes.
There are some cute little French tots near the camp here that remind me of Linda. I sure wish I could see her walk around and play—and it would be lots of fun to have her come …
… up to give me a big kiss. I would like to get a few of those from her mother too. You two young ladies take care of yourselves—your old man will be home some day and he wants you both in good shape. Then I’ll try to make up for the time I’ve lost.
The game is about to start so I’ll close. Goodnight sweetheart
All my love
Your John.
P.S. I don’t know how many of my letters you have received. I write at least 25 each month when I can write. Have your letters been censored as mine?
About this letter
Written in two sittings, morning and night, the day before John went back to his company: food, mail, and a careful reading of the war news.
THE NEWSBritain’s Eighth Army had taken El Agheila, in Libya. “Nelson” is Donald Nelson, head of the War Production Board.
PERIOD LANGUAGEHe uses “Japs,” a wartime slur, about the Japanese. His words are transcribed exactly as he wrote them.
READING CLOSELY
“You two young ladies take care of yourselves—your old man will be home some day and he wants you both in good shape.” “Two young ladies”: his wife, Ginny, and their daughter, Linda, who was two.
“I write at least 25 each month when I can write.” These are those letters.
Their news came in a daily mimeographed sheet.
The Big Picture
All eyes on Stalingrad
In Russia, Soviet armies had trapped nearly 300,000 German and Romanian soldiers at Stalingrad on Nov. 23. On Dec. 12 German tanks set out to rescue them. By Dec. 19 they were about 30 miles away, and they got no closer.
In Libya, the British Eighth Army was chasing Rommel’s army west after its victory at El Alamein. In Tunisia, both sides waited out the rain in the hills west of Tunis.
Where he was
In camp outside Oran, Algeria, with I Company, 3rd Battalion, 16th Infantry. The fighting in Algeria was over; the 1st Division stayed behind to guard the area and train while other Allied troops raced east into Tunisia.
In this letter. His war news came from a daily mimeographed sheet, typed up from radio bulletins.